Synopses & Reviews
The global shift to an urban population comes with an uncomfortable corollary. People who live in cities as they are currently designed produce more greenhouse gasses than their non-urban counterparts—as a global average about three times more. But people in cities, particularly in coastal cities, are waking up to their vulnerability as well as to their responsibility. This newly acknowledged responsibility is reflected in current trends in urban design, in newly conceived projects, plans and standards that try to make cities more resilient in the way they are designed, built and inhabited. To truly prosper, cities need to accommodate a growing number of citizens in dignity, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and still be worth living in.
In this visually rich book Alexandros Washburn redefines urban design by looking at the process and products within the context of rapid urbanization and climate change. The Nature of Urban Design uses real-life examples, drawing heavily from the New York experience, to show how to design beautiful urban spaces that achieve multiple goals and objectives—such as greater resilience, livability and equity—while addressing the political and financial challenges that can accelerate or slow implementation. With examples ranging from the High Line to the post-Sandy recovery of Red Hook, Brooklyn, The Nature of Urban Design shows how a well-designed, well-built city can be the most efficient, equitable, safest, and enriching place on earth.
The Nature of Urban Design will inspire and inform anyone who cares about cities. It provides a framework for participating in the process of change. This includes people who want to become urban designers, particularly students and practitioners in the field of politics, finance and design who help to decide how a city will change.
Review
"Alex Washburn shows planning in New York as it is really done: with the technical requirements, the political difficulties and the dreams. Urban leaders around the world will learn much from this insightful book about designing for greater resiliency to climate change."
Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design, Harvard Univ. Gradua
Review
"Alex Washburn performed the miracle of writing a book about cities that appeals to experts and general readers alike. His idea of urban design is convincingly inclusive, with buildings, people, nature, infrastructure, and public space playing prominent roles."
Jerold Kayden
Review
"Sensibly organized and lavishly illustrated, the book will interest all urbanites, and especially urban planners."
Publishers Weekly
Review
"...the book is about more than how neighborhoods and community's can survive times of crisis; it's about how neighborhoods and community's can thrive in the midst of everyday life..."
Can't Catch My Breath
Review
"Mr. Washburn takes lay people on an illustrated and highly accessible tour of urban planning, from the High Line to the subway system, which, he explains, emits little more in greenhouse gases than the city's streetlights."
Spacing
Review
"[W]ith his first book, Washburn has accomplished, if not quite the impossible, then certainly the daunting: he's written a concise and accessible treatise on urban planning, blissfully free of jargon and clear enough to be understood by both professional and citizen-designers."
Metropolis
Review
"a treat for anyone who loves living in cities and wants to make them better, including professional planners and architects."
Metropolis
Review
"Entertaining and attractively designed...a fantastic introduction to the discipline of urban design for non-designers. ...Washburn's approach to resiliency is both idealistic and practical."
ASLA's The Dirt blog
Review
"...a refreshingly practical take on the power of urban design ...
The Nature of Urban Design is broad when it needs to be and specific when you want it to be. It is the rare kind book that’s inspiring, useful, and, frankly, pretty damn good looking. A chapter on the political, financial, and policy instruments used to pave the way for NYC’s celebrated High Line defies the odds by turning what in the hands of some might amount to little more than an analytically stiff case study into an engaging exploration of world-class design and implementation."
This Big City
Review
"It's perfect reading for a rainy, rainy day."
Grist
Review
"[A]
cri de coeur for action by cities"
The New York Times Book Review
Review
"...a refreshingly practical take on the power of urban design and its role in crafting the tools that guide and shape development."
This Big City
Review
"Washburn helps the reader look at the city differently, and care about its future. His approach works regardless of your city."
Urban Review STL
Review
"Washburn's generally straightforward organization allows readers to use the book like a design manual. He eschews technical jargon for an accessible and approachable tone and language. Beautifully produced with abundant color illustrations that effectively contrast worldwide approaches to urban design, this volume will appeal to a wide specialist and generalist audience."
Enrique Pe�alosa - President of the Board, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy of N
Review
"Washburn's attitude and incisive analysis give this book a rare combination of realism and hope."
CHOICE
Review
"Simply put,
The Nature of Urban Design reads like an engaging story, through the eyes of a well-informed urban planner, who wants nothing more than to see good done in the world."
Planning
Synopsis
The best cities become an ingrained part of their residentsand#39; identities. Urban design is the key to this process, but all too often, citizens abandon it to professionals, unable to see a way to express what they love and value in their own neighborhoods. New in paperback, this visually rich book by Alexandros Washburn, former Chief Urban Designer of the New York Department of City Planning, redefines urban design. His book empowers urbanites and lays the foundations for a new approach to design that will help cities to prosper in an uncertain future. He asks his readers to consider how cities shape communities, for it is the strength of our communities, he argues, that will determine how we respond to crises like Hurricane Sandy, whose floodwaters he watched from his home in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Washburn draws heavily on his experience within the New York City planning system while highlighting forward-thinking developments in cities around the world. He grounds his book in the realities of political and financial challenges that hasten or hinder even the most beautiful designs. By discussing projects like the High Line and the Harlem Childrenand#39;s Zone as well as examples from Seoul to Singapore, he explores the nuances of the urban design process while emphasizing the importance of individuals with the drive to make a difference in their city.
Throughout the book, Washburn shows how a well-designed city can be the most efficient, equitable, safe, and enriching place on earth. The Nature of Urban Design provides a framework for participating in the process of change and will inspire and inform anyone who cares about cities.
About the Author
Alexandros Washburn is industry professor and founding director of the Center for Coastal Resilience and Urban Xcellence (CRUX) at the Stevens Institute of Technology. He was formerly the chief urban designer of the New York City Department of City Planning under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former public works advisor and chief architect for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He lives in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. Why Should We Care About Cities?
Chapter 2. The Process of Urban Design
Chapter 3. The Products of Urban Design
Chapter 4. The Process and Products of the High Line
Chapter 5. Urban Design for Greater Resilience
Epilogue
Endnotes